The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-09-10


was valued. The corn and supplies
they did not appear to grieve over par
ticulariy, as prevented any destruc
ton of the cribs or any unnecessary
damage to the property. Consequently
I was very Hospitality received in the
house. The family consisted of an ole
gentleman named Sunderland, his wife
and three daughters. Sunderland was
well-to-do planter, though too old tc
take arms. He was a doctor by profes
sion and Methodist preacher BY
choice. His family circle was, i'll its
refinement and the beauty of the girls
something charming, particularly to 4
horse soldier who for some years had
known onlythe roughness of the camp
The eldest daughter was married, hel
husband being captain in the rebel
army. The other two were our fair
petitioners, aud with them I enjoyed q
tlaiteriDg degree of popularity from the
start"
The commander-in-chief stopped aud
gazed with satisfied smile into the
Alabama of twenty years ago.
"Well," he said, picking up the
thread Of the story, 81 need only say
that their fate was in my hands, that
all is fair in love and war, aud that
from that day forth I simply
owned the place, corn fields, nige
gers, guitar, and Methodist preacher,
all included. And, gentlemen-''and
he dWelt with some particular and
meaning emphasis upon the s:and;''
"she, Ellen was 10 and was %.
'DuriDg the next two months all
our foraging somehow was in their di-
rection. 1t seemed perhaps to the hor.
ses that everything available in the
food limo had migrated to the district
back of the Sunderland plantation,
which had to be passed in order to
light on any thing at all. There was
something about the Sunderland cui,
sine, too, that must have appeared very
tempting to my men, for L did not
willingly, believe, miss meal Ell
len and /, in fact, were constantly to-
gether. The old folks made no objec-
ton. The blue eyes of the goIden-
haired sister beamed tho sweetest kind
ofapproval, the days were long, and the
twilights of the DIM old fir woods pet
feet, and-I believe 1 mentioned the
fact, gentlemen" said the comman-
der>in-chief, with a sigh, "that she
was 10 and was %.
81 might remark parentheticaily
that there is nothing in life quite so
fascinating as to be isolated in the
wilderness in company with a beanti-
full woman. Several books have been
written with that one idea to carry
them, and, like Charles Reade's Foul
PIay,' they have always caught the
pubitc's eye. There was no sentiment
tai talk between us. The crack of the
guerrilla rifle, the distant boom of bat.
tie, the war smoke in the air, and the
period when no one knew what a day
might bring forth were very i'll adapted
for sincere lovetnaking, and that any
thing in the shape of man could have
made love to Ellen Sunderland insin-
cerely it would take pretty bitter
cynic to believe. But we were together
none the less /; together when the tree
shadows crept slowly across the hot,
still, brown fields as the sun sank
lower and lower toward the noun
tains' SUBMITS; together in the still,
ness aud loneliness of the moss grown
aisles of the woods in the noontide
heat together when the big round
harvest moon hung still and simmer.
ing like great shield of gold balanced
against the black velvet wall of the
autumn night universe. What we
said and what We did and what we
thought it matters not. 1t would be to
you very like a chestnut, perhaps, to
dwell upon in. Every woman knows
who has ever been 10; every man re-
members who knew what it was to be
90.
"Weli, one day when 1 entered the
house had surprise. l had heard
rumors Of there being a wounded rebel
officer in hiding at the Sunderlands. l
had paid no attention to them, how
ever, believing them to be without
foundation. But on this day, entering
the house as usual without knocking,
l opened the door of the reception
room or parlor, the first door on the
right~hand side of the hail, which ran
through the house. There was a large
fireplace in this room on the side op-
posite the door. AS stepped in l saw
an easy chair, high.baclzed, in front
of this fire. 1 was instantly conscious
in some way-for l certainly saw 10th
ing OF him--that a man, and a stran
ger, was sitting in that chair. l did
not attempt to see any more. 1 STEP
ped out, closed the door, and quietly
took chair in the sittipg-room oppo,
site. In moment or two the eIdes,
daughter came IN hurricdIy, pale and
agitated.
"Mr.-!' she easped, sDid you &C
into the other room -
"'I did, said I.